1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closing mechanism for cabinets having drawers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In large cabinets with drawers, for example, dressers or file cabinets, the center of gravity of the cabinet may be shifted outside of the base area of the cabinet, and the cabinet may tilt over if several doors of the cabinet are opened simultaneously. For this reason, it should not be possible to open two or more drawers successively or simultaneously.
A closing mechanism, in which the simultaneous opening of several drawers and the opening of additional drawers are prevented when a drawer is already open, is known in the art. In this closing mechanism, cam pieces are mounted on the drawers, and the cabinet is provided with vertically displaceable closing rods which are arranged next to the drawers and are provided with projecting pins. The closing mechanism further includes a holding device for holding each closing rod in its displaced position. Stop members interacting with the pins are provided for the cam pieces. As soon as a pin enters the cam piece when a drawer is opened, the pin, and consequently the closing rod, are raised by an obliquely ascending guide surface of the cam piece, so that the other pins of the closing rod are moved in front of the stop surfaces of the remaining drawers, and the remaining drawers cannot be opened. In order to additionally prevent a simultaneous opening of several drawers, the cam pieces are arranged at various distances from the closing rod, and the cam pieces are arranged differently in each drawer. Thus, even if two drawers are pulled out simultaneously, the drawer in which the cam piece is mounted more toward the closing rod causes all those drawers to be locked in which the cam piece is arranged at a greater distance from the closing rod. Accordingly, the second drawer or any additional drawers can only be opened by a small distance which corresponds to the distance of the stop surface from the front edge of the drawer. In no event is it possible to pull out the other drawers completely.